Science | Nature | Conservation
Intelligence is not an attribute bestowed on the humans alone. Animals too have a mind of their own and use it to find food and protect themselves, writes Atula Gupta ‘Kaalia’ the crow might have outsmarted the crafty crocodile, ‘Doob-doob’ innumerable times in the comic world, but in the real world, it seems like the…
The Asiatic Lion has doubled its territory in Gujarat with one-third of Saurashtra under its reign. While the news is promising for the future of lions, it highlights the concern that they roam outside the protected area, leading to human-animal conflict. Atula Gupta writes… When the Asiatic Lion truly lived the life of royalty, its…
Going by the size of Sunderban tigers, it was believed that they were a different subspecies, but it has now been established that they share their lineage with Central Indian tigers, writes Atula Gupta. When mud and water is the land you tread on and the forest is nothing but a floating mass, even a…
The rising water levels in the mangroves of Sunderbans has created an imbalance in the area which is otherwise blessed with a unique species diversity. The reason for this is unplanned aquaculture which needs to be immediately checked, writes Atula Gupta. The impermeable floating jungles on the seashores of India and Bangladesh, Sunderbans, are both…
As cities expand and humans encroach upon animal habitats, the creatures have no other option but to adapt to the changing environment in order to survive. We may be fuelling the evolution of bigger brains in city-dwelling animals, writes Atula Gupta. Away from the open pastures, green valleys and forested pathways, a village simpleton new…
Camouflage has not helped the cause of the elusive snow leopards in this day and age as rampant cashmere goat rearing has left no food for their prey — the local wildlife. The ‘Ghost of the Himalayas’ will soon disappear if we don’t mend our ways, reckons Atula Gupta They are rare, beautiful and so…
Poaching, grasslands getting converted to farmlands, feral dogs chasing the bird away and dwindling genetic diversity have all contributed to the near-extinction of a bird that was once tipped to be India’s national bird, says Atula Gupta. Five of them live in Madhya Pradesh; thirty in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh and the remaining…
Forty years after the Chipko Movement became symbolic of several conservation struggles, the message sent out by the women to fellow human beings have been conveniently forgotten by future generations, feels Atula Gupta. It was on March 26, 1974, when a group of peasant women in Reni village of Chamoli district of Uttarakhand stood surrounding…
Burnt old plants generate a chemical message for the next generation, telling dormant seeds it’s time to sprout. Scientists explain that controlling a forest fire can actually be harmful in the long run because the soil then loses the important minerals and chemicals needed to nudge the new generation into wakefulness, writes Atula Gupta. There…
Recent research points out that as tiger numbers have dropped over the years, the number of mating partners available has come down too, leading to poor genetic diversity of the royal animal, writes Atula Gupta. Mysterious, powerful, majestic — the tiger stands tall in our imagination. But, in reality, tigers are disappearing in the wild…